The Kelly Gang--Ned and Dan Kelly--Steve Hart--Joe Byrne--The
Origin of the Bushranging Outbreak--Search Party organized--Murder
of Kennedy--M'Intyre's Escape--Arming the Police--Tracking the
Gang--Close on them.
The events in connection with the outbreak of the Kelly gang, from
the murder of the ill-fated party of police in the Wombat Ranges,
in October 1878, until the capture and death of the bushrangers at
Glenrowan, in June 1880, are still too fresh in the minds of the public
to need more than the briefest recapitulation as an introduction to
my own experiences in their pursuit. Perhaps there was no one who
had a better opportunity of obtaining information concerning their
career than myself. Not that I wish to take any special credit, but I
am merely mentioning facts that came to my knowledge and experiences
during the search for the outlaws. For nearly ten months I was engaged
searching for them, and both before I went to the north-eastern
district and after I was relieved, Captain Standish, the Chief
Commissioner of Police, consulted me concerning all the information
that came to hand.
Ned Kelly, the leader of the gang, was born in 1854, at Wallan Wallan.
At an early age he took to criminal courses, and was regarded as a
horse and cattle stealer from his earliest boyhood. He was known to
steal carriers' horses at night, "plant" them in the bush until a
reward was offered for their recovery, and then in the most innocent
manner claim the reward. Afterwards he took to stealing and selling
any horses he found straying about. When he was sixteen years of age
he joined Power, although he never assisted in any of his sticking-up
cases; still, he was with him on two or three occasions when Power
committed some of his depredations. He merely took charge of Power's
horses at a distance, but he could not be recognized by any of the
victims, and consequently he was never tried for any offence in
connection with him; but he served two or three sentences for horse and
cattle stealing. When with Power, Ned Kelly was a flash, ill-looking
young blackguard. He told me the reason he left him was because Power
had such an ungovernable temper that he thought Power would shoot him.
He told me that when they were riding in the mountains, Power swore at
him to such an extent, without his giving him any provocation, that
he put spurs to his horse and galloped away home. It was generally
supposed by the public that Ned Kelly gave the police some information
which led to Power's arrest; but this is entirely untrue. Power
would not at that time have trusted Kelly with the knowledge of his
whereabouts. Power had a very poor opinion of Kelly's courage, and told
me that once or twice Ned Kelly suggested that they should surrender,
more especially when Kelly and he were trying to steal some of Dr.
Rowe's horses at Mount Battery station, Mansfield, and Dr. Rowe fired
on them with a long distance rifle. Power said Kelly turned deadly
white, and wished to surrender. He had the greatest difficulty in
getting him off the ground, he was in such a fright. Between the
interval of his exploits with Power, and the time of the outbreak of
the gang of which he was the leader, Ned Kelly had grown into a man,
and had become so hardened in crime as to be perfectly reckless.
[Illustration: Dan Kelly.]
Ned Kelly had two brothers and four sisters, Dan, Jim, Mrs. Gunn,
Mrs. Skillian, Kate and Grace. His father, who died in 1865, was a
notorious criminal, having been transported from Ireland. He married
a Miss Quinn, and all her people were thieves. The mother (Mrs. Kelly)
is still alive, but was in gaol during most of the time her sons were
outlaws, having been convicted of aiding in the shooting of Constable
Fitzpatrick.
Dan Kelly was born in 1861, and was a good deal mixed up with Ned
in his criminal pursuits. They were the terror of all persons who
travelled with stock in that part of the district, and many drovers
were accustomed to go miles out of their way to avoid Greta, for fear
of their cattle being stolen. Dan was always known to be a cunning low
little sneak, he would be prowling about half the night seeing what he
could pick up; of course he knew every road, lane, and mountain gully
in the district, and could ride about the darkest night and find his
way as if in his own garden.
Steve Hart was born in 1860, near Wangaratta, he also was a
horse-stealer, and was frequently prowling about of a night to pick up
a stray drayman's horse, or any other animal that did not belong to him.
Joe Byrne was born in 1857 at Woolshed, near Beechworth. He was a fine
strapping young fellow, but he took early in life to evil courses, and
received a sentence of six months in Beechworth for cattle-stealing. He
was educated at the Eldorado school, where he and Aaron Sherritt were
most intimate friends.
Aaron Sherritt, who figures conspicuously throughout this narrative,
was born near Beechworth. His parents and sisters were respectable and
well-conducted people, his father having been in the police force in
the old country. He was a strapping, tall, well-made young fellow, and
associated himself with the Kellys and Byrne in their horse-stealing
raids, giving himself up entirely to a disreputable life.
It will be observed that as the Kelly family lived near Greta, the
Hart family near Wangaratta, with the Warby ranges behind them, and
Joe Byrne's family resided at Woolshed, they had miles of ranges to
retreat into with which they were well acquainted, and to this fact I
attribute in a great measure their successful evasion from arrest. If,
for instance, the police made up their minds to search the interminable
ranges at the back of Greta, extending for over one hundred miles, the
outlaws would, through their sisters, get the information furnished
to them that the police were in that district, and they would shift
their position during the night to the Warby Ranges, at the back of
Hart's place; if parties of police were sent there, they would move
over to Byrne's friends. In this manner they could find retreats over
hundreds of miles of impenetrable mountains, amongst which they had
been brought up all their lives, and where they knew every road, gully,
and hiding-place.
The origin of the bushranging outbreak was the shooting at a young
constable named Fitzpatrick in April 1878. He had been sent to arrest
Dan Kelly at his mother's house near Greta. He was invited into Mrs.
Kelly's hut and there set on by a number of people, and in the scuffle
Ned Kelly shot him in the wrist. Mrs. Kelly, the mother of Ned and
Dan, with two or three others, was subsequently arrested, tried, and
convicted for aiding in the shooting of Fitzpatrick, and received long
sentences. Warrants were then issued, and a reward of £100 offered for
the arrest of Ned and Dan Kelly. For some months nothing was heard of
them; they were doubtless in the district, but the police could not lay
their hands on them, although every effort was made to capture them.
In October 1878, search parties were organized of three or four men,
and were sent to search the mountains. The party in charge of Sergeant
Kennedy, one of the best men in the force, comprised also Constables
Lonergan, Scanlan, and M'Intyre. They had orders to scour the Wombat
Ranges. They left Mansfield on the 25th of October, 1878, with
pack-horses and provisions to last them some days. Sergeant Kennedy was
a shrewd, intelligent man, and there is every reason to believe he had
received information of a most positive nature as to where the Kellys
were to be found, the information being supplied by a man whom I must
call P----, a well-educated fellow, who had held various responsible
positions in the district, on the promise from Kennedy that if he
arrested the offenders, the reward offered by the Government for their
apprehension should be paid to him. It is also stated, that no sooner
had P---- given this information to Kennedy and seen the police started
in search of the bushrangers, than he went straight to the Kellys and
told them that Kennedy was to camp in a certain spot in the Wombat
Ranges. Kennedy never for a moment thought the Kellys would attack him;
such an idea never entered his head, and he camped for the night in a
spot he had selected in the Stringy Bark Ranges, about twenty miles
from Mansfield; the country was almost impassable from the impenetrable
scrub.
The following morning Kennedy and Scanlan got their horses and started
off to search the ranges, leaving M'Intyre and Lonergan in the camp;
the former was acting as cook for the day. The camp consisted of a
tent, which the men slept in. About two o'clock that day the two men
left in camp were suddenly called on to "bail up and throw up their
hands" by four armed men, who were presenting rifles at them. M'Intyre,
being unarmed, immediately obeyed and threw up his hands, his revolver
being inside the tent. Lonergan, instead of following the example,
ran to get behind the shelter of a tree, at the same time drawing his
revolver out of the case, but before he got to the tree he was shot
in the forehead, and dropped down dead. The armed men were found to
be Ned and Dan Kelly, Joe Byrne, and Steve Hart; they at once took
possession of Lonergan's arms and all the other arms lying about the
camp. M'Intyre was made to sit on a log, and he had a good opportunity
of seeing the faces of the four men. Either Ned or Dan Kelly shot
Lonergan, and M'Intyre states that Byrne and Hart were dreadfully cut
up at the turn things had taken, especially Byrne, who was nervous and
downcast.
The bushrangers were evidently aware that Kennedy and Scanlan were
away, and would shortly be returning. They arranged that M'Intyre would
sit in some conspicuous place where he could be seen by his comrades,
and they themselves laid down in some sheltered spot where they could
not be seen, and they advised M'Intyre to induce Kennedy and Scanlan
to surrender, saying that if they consented they would not be shot.
M'Intyre told Kelly that he would induce his comrades to surrender, if
he promised to keep his word.
Kennedy and Scanlan rode into the camp. M'Intyre went forward and
said, "Sergeant, I think you had better dismount and surrender, as we
have been captured." Kelly at the same time called out, "Put up your
hands." They both appear to have grasped the situation in a moment,
for Scanlan threw himself from his horse to get behind a tree, but was
shot before he reached the ground. Kennedy jumped from his horse, and
getting the animal between him and the bushrangers, opened fire upon
them. The horse bolted and passed close by M'Intyre, who vaulted on it
and galloped off, throwing himself on the horse's neck. Several shots
were fired, but, fortunately, none hit him, and he rode off as hard as
he could. Kennedy was left then to fight these four scoundrels.
What happened no one knows, beyond what Ned Kelly stated himself. He
said that Kennedy was a brave man, and fought the four of them until
he had fired all the shots in his revolver. His body was afterwards
found a quarter of a mile from where M'Intyre last saw him, with
several bullet wounds and fearfully mutilated. Ned Kelly said that
after Kennedy was wounded and fell, they all ran up to him, and Kennedy
begged them to spare his life for the sake of his wife and children,
but the inhuman brute said that he did not like to leave him in the
bush in such a state, and so out of compassion he blew his brains
out. An inquest was held on the bodies of the murdered men. Lonergan
had received seven bullet wounds, one of them through the eye-ball.
Scanlan's body had four shot marks on it, the fatal bullet had gone
through his lungs. Kennedy's body was fearfully mutilated, he had three
bullets through his head, and several in his body. Aaron Sherritt
afterwards gave me another version of this matter. He said Ned Kelly
told him that he made both Joe Byrne and Steve Hart fire into Kennedy
whilst he was lying wounded, as neither of them had shot either Scanlan
or Lonergan, and he made them kill Kennedy so as to prevent their
turning informers against him and his brother. In support of this
theory, it may be noted that when Kennedy's body was found, it was
apparent that the bullets which put an end to his life must have been
fired by men standing close over him, as the skin was burnt by the
powder.
M'Intyre after his escape rode off as fast as the nature of the country
would permit, until his horse fell and threw him across a log, on his
loins, and then bolted off. M'Intyre felt sure he was being followed
by one of the gang, and no doubt they did endeavour to overtake him,
but the country was so dense with scrub that they were unable to follow
on his tracks. After being thrown from his horse, he ran as far as he
could, until through exhaustion he fell down, and close by he found
a wombat hole, into which he crept, hoping to evade his pursuers.
Whilst he was in this hole in the earth, he tore a sheet out of his
pocket-book and wrote as concise an account as he could, thinking if
the Kellys did overtake him, he would leave the slip of paper in the
hole, in the hope that it might be found some day. Fortunately darkness
came on, and M'Intyre got out of the hole and travelled all night on
foot. Towards morning he found himself near Mr. Tolmie's station,
between Mansfield and Benalla. At first he was rejoiced at seeing
some habitation, but to his horror he fancied he saw the police horses
which had been ridden by Kennedy's party feeding near the house, and
he thought the bushrangers had come down and taken possession of the
place. Acting on this idea, he made off as fast as he could. He found
his way into Mansfield some time during the afternoon.
I afterwards spoke to M'Intyre concerning these horses, and he told me
he felt perfectly convinced in his own mind that he saw the horse he
had been riding, together with the three others, but it turned out that
they were only the station horses. M'Intyre was much blamed for the way
he had acted in the affair, but my own idea is, that unless he had been
a brave man, he could not have seized the opportunity in the way he did
in vaulting on Kennedy's horse as it passed him. He was of no use to
Kennedy, he had no arms in his possession, and the fact of his bolting
off as he did, gave Kennedy a better opportunity of shooting one or
two of the bushrangers if they attempted to pursue him. He had seen
his two companions shot dead and the third fired at; clearly his best
course was to escape and give the alarm. There can be no question that
if M'Intyre had also been shot (which he would have been, had he not
escaped), the world would never have known the fate of the four men.
The bush near the spot where the tragedy took place is so dense that,
if the bodies had been burned and the ashes covered up, no sign of the
bodies could have been discovered.
To show how difficult it was to find anything in the locality, it
may be mentioned that poor Kennedy's body, although only a quarter
of a mile away from the others, was not found for two or three days,
although dozens of people were searching. When found, it was covered
with a coat, although Lonergan's and Scanlan's bodies were lying in the
camp uncovered. Afterwards I asked Sherritt the cause of Kennedy's body
being covered, and he said Ned Kelly told him he was the bravest man he
had ever heard of, and out of respect he went all the way to the camp,
got a cloak, and threw it over the body, and I have not the least doubt
that was the case.
M'Intyre having given the alarm at Mansfield, a party of police were
sent out at once to the Wombat, and after much difficulty they reached
the spot described by M'Intyre, and found the two bodies, and some days
afterwards the remains of Kennedy were found as stated. The bodies had
to be tied on horse-back to be brought out of the forest, and they
were buried at Mansfield, where a monument has been erected to the
memory of the murdered men. Kennedy was a great favourite with every
one. He left a wife and children at Mansfield. The Government behaved
liberally, allowing the widow to draw her husband's full pay to support
herself and children ever since.
The news of these murders was very soon sent to all parts of the
colonies, and caused great consternation. Captain Standish at once
despatched the inspecting superintendent to the district, and mounted
constables from all parts of the colony were sent in pursuit of the
offenders. The police were blamed for being unprepared for such an
outbreak, but, to my certain knowledge, for years Captain Standish had
been asking for authority to arm his men with proper carbines, but his
request was refused, the men not even being supplied with ammunition
to practise with, because of the expense. Yet when this outbreak took
place, blame was heaped upon the head of the department for being in
such a state of unpreparedness. Authority was then given to purchase
arms that were thought suitable for the purpose, but rifles of the
description required could not be obtained. The military sent some
old-fashioned rifles, but they were not to be depended on. Captain
Standish then obtained authority to purchase from a gun-maker in
Melbourne a large number of shot-guns, breech-loaders, and these were
sent to the north-eastern district, and were well adapted for the
purpose, and the men felt great confidence in using them. Each of these
breech-loading shot-guns cost the Government about £8. However, we had
to purchase some reliable weapons, and these shot-guns were considered
the best, especially for inexperienced men.
The inspecting superintendent, and the officer in charge of the
district, at once set to work to organize search parties to go in
pursuit of the gang. The whole district at this time was in an intense
state of excitement, and reports came from all parts of the district
that suspicious persons answering the description of the bushrangers
had been seen. There were several hundred square miles of country
which the murderers knew every inch of, and it was difficult to say
in which direction they would fly. One of the parties organized to
search for the offenders found, within a few miles of the spot where
the murders were committed, a very strong stockade, built of logs laid
one on top of the other, with loop-holes all round, through which
shots could be fired, and the person firing remain quite unseen, the
trees within one hundred and fifty yards being full of bullet marks,
where evidently considerable practice had taken place. It is believed
that the bushrangers were living in this stockade when they attacked
Kennedy's party, and from all appearances had been living there for
some considerable time.
Aaron Sherritt told me it was quite by accident that Joe Byrne and Hart
happened to be with the Kellys when they attacked the police. They were
always great friends and companions in their horse-stealing raids, and
Sherritt said they had no idea of shooting the police the morning they
started to attack the camp. Their chief aim was to secure some good
fire-arms and horses, and they were under the impression that all they
would have to do was to cover them with their rifles, and the police
would surrender. Instead of this they had to shoot the police to save
their own lives.
Of course the bushrangers took away everything belonging to the
murdered men. The police had good Webley revolvers, a Spencer carbine,
and two shot-guns, the latter borrowed from some one at Mansfield. The
police horses were also taken away by the gang.
The Government immediately offered a reward of £1000 for information
that would lead to the apprehension of the offenders, they were
outlawed, and every inducement was given to people to inform against
them. After the murders the first information that was received
concerning them was from the Murray River, below Wodonga, about ninety
miles from the scene of the murder. They called at the house of a
German, who knew them. They were riding the police horses belonging
to Kennedy's party, and had their arms in their possession, and were
seen going towards the Murray. They evidently meant to cross the river,
but it was flooded, and they got on some of the islands and were very
nearly drowned. The police had information of this, but they either
disbelieved it, or failed to take action. At all events, a day or two
afterwards the outlaws were seen making their way back riding through
the water, and obliged to swim their horses to get out. When they
reached the shore they had to make a fire to dry their arms, and they
remained there some hours.
The next thing heard of them was their going through Wangaratta about
daylight, crossing the bridge through the town, the whole country being
flooded to such an extent that they were compelled to come through the
town. Four men were seen crossing under a culvert on the railway, and
it was known that no one but persons who had resided in Wangaratta
could have known how to cross the creek in the swollen state it was
in, as there was great risk in doing so. Information was given to the
police at Wangaratta, but they doubted the truth of the report. After
a day or two convincing proof was given that the four men seen passing
under the railway were the bushrangers. An effort was then made to
follow their tracks. This could be done by the men in full gallop,
as the country was so boggy the tracks were plainly visible. The
police tracked the foot-prints of the outlaws' horses to a well-known
sympathizer's house, where it was afterwards ascertained the outlaws
had breakfasted. Then the tracks were followed up still further into
the Warby Ranges, and the police found Kennedy's horse, which the
outlaws had abandoned. The animal was knocked up and its feet were
bleeding from travelling over stones without shoes.
This I consider the best opportunity thrown away of capturing the
offenders throughout the whole of the search. But unfortunately there
was an officer at that time stationed at Wangaratta who was from
physical and other disqualifications quite unfit to be sent on duty of
this kind. Instead of following up the tracks when he found the lame
and bleeding horse with signs of having recently been ridden, he threw
up the search and made all his men return back to Wangaratta to show
he had found the horse. It was afterwards discovered that the outlaws
at this time were completely done up; their horses had been some days
without feed, and they themselves were wet and tired out. There would
have been no difficulty in capturing them. Unfortunately the inspecting
superintendent was engaged in some other part of the district, and so
also was the officer in charge of the district. The outlaws had got
back to near where their relations lived. They had the Kellys' house
on one side of them, and the Harts' on the other, and they could go to
their own blood relations for any food and help they required.
Search parties were kept up all over the district, men sleeping out,
or I should say staying out without fire or shelter; badly-fed horses
knocked up, reports coming in from every direction hundreds of miles
off, that the Kellys had been seen here, there, and everywhere. Many of
these reports were circulated for the purpose of deceiving the police.
The inspecting superintendent had had a great deal of experience in
the detective force, and was able to obtain information from persons
that no one else would think of getting it from. He set to work to
endeavour to organize men of this class and get information as to the
whereabouts of the outlaws, but there was the greatest difficulty in
doing this. The murders committed by the outlaws had created such a
scare in the district, that any person who did know anything of their
movements was afraid to say anything about it; besides which, they had
such a crowd of relations in the district, that it was impossible to
find a person who was not in some way or other interested or connected
with the gang. No one but the police themselves knew the hardships they
went through all that winter whilst searching for the outlaws. They
did it most cheerfully, one and all. Their whole aim and object was
to fall in with the Kellys. The officers had a most trying time. They
had to decide between false and deceiving reports, and those that were
true. They were constantly on the move themselves, meeting persons in
the bush quite alone, and obtaining information concerning the outlaws,
some purposely misleading with a view of favouring the outlaws and
getting payment for their services.